1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watertight connector.
2. Descriptiong of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,806, U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,549, U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,521 and FIGS. 20–22 herein all disclose watertight connectors. With reference to FIGS. 20–22, the watertight connector has cavities 100 formed in a synthetic resin housing 101. A busbar 102 is formed as part of a busbar element 103 that is mounted at the front end (right side in FIG. 20) of the housing 101. The busbar 102 is fit into the respective cavities 100 to short the terminal fittings in a specified pattern. The terminal fittings are passed through sealing holes 104 of a sealing member 105 provided at the rear end (left side in FIG. 20) of the housing 101 for individually sealing wires connected with the terminal fittings. A seal holder 106 is provided behind the sealing member 105 for tightly holding the sealing member 105 in cooperation with the housing 101.
The busbar element 103 includes a holder 107 and the busbar 102 is disposed in the holding element 107. The holder 107 has a rearwardly projecting tube 108, and guide grooves 109 extend forward and back at each of the left and right ends of the tube 108. On the other hand, the housing 101 is formed with locking projections 110 corresponding to the guide grooves 109. The busbar element 103 is held onto the housing 101 by the engagement of the guide grooves 109 with the locking projections 110.
Two holding projections 111 project back from the opposite left and right ends of the rear end surface of the housing 101, as shown in FIG. 21, and a locking piece 111A is formed at the leading end of each holding projection 111. Fitting holes penetrate the sealing member 105 in forward and backward directions and receive the holding projections 111 of the housing 101. As shown in FIG. 22, the seal holder 106 has retaining holes 112 that align with the holding projections 111, and a stepped receiving portion 113 is formed on the inner wall of each retaining hole 112. The sealing member 105 is assembled with the housing 101 while engaging the fitting holes thereof with the holding projections 111, and the seal holder 106 is assembled with the housing 101 by engaging the locking pieces 111A of the holding projections 111 with the receiving portions 113 of the retaining holes 112 to hold the sealing member 105 in cooperation with the housing 101. Thus the sealing member 105 and the sealing-member holder 106 are held on the housing 101.
The locking projections 110 are formed by rearwardly removing a mold. Thus, the housing 101 needs mold removing spaces 114 that extend from the rear ends of the locking projections 110 to the rear end of the housing 101. The holding projections 111 on the rear end of the housing 101 are formed at positions displaced from the locking projections 110 in the height direction or width direction to avoid the mold removing spaces 114 (see FIG. 21). As a result, the watertight connector has been difficult to miniaturize.
The present invention was developed in view of the above problem and an object thereof is to miniaturize a watertight connector.